Some question whether he has vision to deal with city's problems

He drives a red Toyota Prius with a magnetic "Mayor" sign on both sides and an "OCOEE 1" license plate. He usually wears a fishing hat with a butterfly on it or a white ball cap that reads "Mayor of Ocoee" across the front.

Only Apopka's 92-year-old leader, John Land, the nation's oldest and longest-serving mayor, has enjoyed a longer tenure at the top of a city government in Central Florida than Vandergrift, 73, Ocoee's mayor since 1992.

Vandergrift, who has made headlines by jumping from an airplane and promoting butterflies, just started his ninth consecutive term, having run unopposed again for the top seat in Orange County's third-most-populous city.

But some people doubt that "mayorscott" — the name he signs to his electronic newsletter — has the vision Ocoee needs to thrive, especially when matched against Winter Garden, its like-sized neighbor to the west.

"Everybody thinks he's just a cute old mayor," said Rusty Johnson, 67, who, as a member of the Ocoee City Commission since 1986, has often butted heads with Vandergrift. "This city doesn't need a cute old mayor anymore. It needs a leader."

Johnson pointed out that Winter Garden has no storefront vacancies on bustling Plant Street, the main road through downtown, while Ocoee doesn't even have sewers in its downtown, where businesses are few by comparison.

"That's a difference in leadership," said Johnson, who said he might run for mayor in 2016.

Martha Lopez-Anderson, 47, a community activist who ran unsuccessfully against Vandergrift in 2001, described the mayor as "a good man who cares deeply about Ocoee" but who has proved himself incapable of moving the city forward.

"We have some pretty big issues in Ocoee that need to be addressed," she said, citing the need for a more focused economic-development plan. "We can't have a mayor who, when confronted with a difficult matter, says, 'Staff, handle this and get back to me.' We need somebody who is willing to tackle the tough things head-on and take responsibility for getting those things done."

Others were reluctant to offer any assessments of the mayor that might be viewed as criticism in the wake of his recent personal tragedy. Beth, his wife of 22 years, whom he often introduced as the first lady of Ocoee, died in January after a 14-month fight with cancer. Well-wishers donated 75 butterfly plants in her memory.

Since his wife's death, Vandergrift admits, he has "moments of melancholy" that distract him daily. Though beset by his own health problems — he had his first heart attack 15 years ago — he has taken up smoking again, a vice he shared with his late wife, a "closet" smoker.

Vandergrift, who draws a salary of $4,500 a year as mayor, shrugged off criticism of his leadership, offering a roll call of improvements and accomplishments that have occurred during his tenure. His list includes expanding a key artery, Maguire Road, to four lanes and serving as the "driving force" to establish Ocoee High School and several new elementary schools within the city limits.

Yet he acknowledged that Ocoee is not where he wants it to be.

The mayor described himself as "envious" of Winter Garden's renaissance. For example, he noted that the success of Winter Garden Village at Fowler Groves, the open-air shopping center at Daniels Road and State Road 429 that is winning praise from neighbors who once opposed it, has siphoned customers from Ocoee's West Oaks Mall, where about a third of the storefronts are vacant, including two of its anchor spaces.

During the two decades Vandergrift has served as its mayor, Ocoee has more than doubled in population, from 15,525 residents in 1992 to 36,320 in 2011, according to U.S. census estimates.

"We must be doing something right," he said.

Vandergrift said he admires the energy and achievements of Apopka's Land, for whom a stretch of expressway was recently named. The Ocoee mayor said he doesn't envision serving — or even living — as long as the Apopka mayor.

But Vandergrift, an Ocoee native who made his living in real estate, would not be easy to oust.

"Look, he's out there campaigning 24-7, one way or another," Lopez-Anderson said.

Since 2005, the mayor has distributed an electronic newsletter, the "Community Gazette," that now has 6,600 "subscribers." He said the twice-weekly missive, a listing of upcoming events and under-the-radar news items published in multicolor type, "strives to fill the gap of information that doesn't quite make the papers, TV or radio."

But it is a personal showcase for him, too.

He has featured his lung X-rays and, more recently, YouTube links to his wife's memorial service.

"I'm an open book with no contents," he said with his dry sense of humor. Each newsletter takes him six hours to assemble.

Though critics suggest that his newsletter, car magnets and mayor's cap are smart politics by a savvy politician, he insisted that more elected officials should follow his lead.

"Don't dodge people," he said. "Let them know who you are. I'm out there in front of them."